On public shaming
An embarrassingly complicated subject
Another Wednesday, another Life Intelligence bag of wisdom… you're welcome 😊
Enjoying the Mindful Monday series? Next week is the last of the Pondering Purpose weeks. Then comes Thanksgiving, so I'll let you plan your Turkey dinner menu on Monday and fight people in the produce department for the last bag of fresh cranberries. But coming right after, on four Mondays, we look backward and forward in time and contemplate where we've been and where we're going in the Getting Ready for 2024 series. That's instead of New Year's Resolutions. You know those don't work, right?
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If "I told you so" is your favorite comment, raise your hand! How better to tell someone they are wrong, stupid, or both? Guess what? That's a form of shaming. Wanna argue about it? Look up the definition of shaming. It's "to cause (someone) to feel ashamed or inadequate by outdoing or surpassing them." I told you so!
Public shaming is when you and/or others, sometimes in mobs, scream something similar over the loudspeaker with the purpose of ruining someone else's reputation, life, and good time. Before a loudspeaker (TV, social media, regular media) existed, there was the public square. People got dragged onto stocks and pillories and subjected to public ridicule, anger, and projectile produce. This punishment was meted out for various offenses, ranging from petty crimes to moral transgressions, the idea being